VP debate highlights: Walz and Vance spar over immigration, abortion and gun violence

Nearly every voter in a group of Pennsylvanians watching the debate with NBC News' Kate Snow raised their hands to say Walz won the debate. Some of the voters were undecided, while others knew whom they wanted to back.

One voter who was thinking about voting for Trump said Vance was "dancing around questions."

He said his opinion has not changed much after the debate.

Another voter expressed the importance of getting American hostages out of Gaza in describing her top voting priorities.

Another voter said she felt it was "incredibly, incredibly offensive" for Trump to refer to people convicted of crimes from their actions on Jan. 6, 2021, as "hostages."

Vance refused to acknowledge that Trump lost the 2020 presidential election during the vice presidential debate tonight and downplayed the seriousness of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, which injured more than 140 law enforcement officers.

He also declined to say whether he would seek to challenge the results of this year’s election.

Toward the end of the debate, Walz asked Vance to affirm that Trump lost the last election. “Did he lose the 2020 election?” Walz asked.

Read the full story here.

Pressed about claims that he was in China during the Tiananmen Square massacre, despite contemporaneous news reports that placed him in Nebraska at the time, Walz downplayed his past comments.

Statement

“All I said on this is that I got there that summer and misspoke on this. I will just — that’s what I said, so I was in Hong Kong and China during the democracy protests."

When Harris debated Mike Pence four years ago in the 2020 vice presidential debate, Trump and Covid-19 were the dominant topics. Times have changed. These charts highlight what was talked about and who did the talking in the 2024 and 2020 vice presidential debates.

See the 2024 vice presidential topic tracker graphic.

Asked by Fox News' Sean Hannity after the debate whether he thought Walz was nervous, Vance said, “Honestly, I didn’t notice it, man."

"I was nervous. This is the biggest stage of my life. I tried not to focus on his demeanor," Vance added.

Walz and his wife, Gwen Walz, stopped by Justino's Pizza in Manhattan after the debate.

There were only a few people in the shop.

Walz said the debate was good because the public got to see a contrast. He did not answer shouted questions about his Hong Kong trip or his line about being friends with school shooters.

When asked about religion, he said we’re Lutherans, we don’t talk about it (jokingly looked at his wife.)

Supporters were outside yelling "Coach!" when he left and he took a photo with a person outside.

In an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity after the debate, Vance said he saw the debate "as an opportunity to get 90 minutes with the American people."

Vance said one of his goals was to "remind the American people that Donald Trump is not the caricature Kamala Harris and the media have made him out to be."

He also wanted to point out that "we had low inflation, things were going well, things were more peaceful” under Trump, a point he said was easier to make with the current instability in the Middle East.

“When the world is going to crap and it looks increasingly more violent, you want steady, proven leadership, and that’s Donald Trump," he said.

Statement

"We are a rich and prosperous enough country where every American, whether they're rich or poor, ought to be able to turn on their heat in the middle of a cold winter night. That's gotten more difficult thanks to Kamala Harris' energy policies."

Statement

“The Minnesota law that you signed into law, the statute that you signed into law, it says that a doctor who presides over an abortion where the baby survives, the doctor is under no obligation to provide lifesaving care to a baby who survives a botched late-term abortion.”

Vance and Walz clashed tonight over everything from economic and gun policy to immigration and school shootings in the only vice presidential debate of the election.

They largely kept things cordial personally, even appearing chummy at times and saying they could work with each other. But they repeatedly savaged each other’s running mates and defended their party policies and tickets.

The debate, hosted by CBS News in New York City, could be the last event featuring candidates from both campaigns, with Harris and Trump not currently scheduled to debate again.

Here are five key takeaways from the debate.

Statement

"What President Trump has said is that there were problems in 2020, and my belief is that we should fight about those issues, debate those issues peacefully in the public square. And that's all I've said, and that's all that Donald Trump has said."

Though it was a frequent criticism of Vance throughout the summer, his 2021 comment that resurfaced in July about "childless cat ladies" didn't come up on the debate stage tonight.

In an interview with Tucker Carlson on Fox News in 2021, Vance said Harris was one of the "childless cat ladies" running the country.

“If you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez], the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children," he said at the time.

When the comments went viral in July, Vance doubled down on them and told Megyn Kelly: “Obviously, it was a sarcastic comment. I’ve got nothing against cats." He blamed the media for "focusing so much on the sarcasm and not on the substance of what I actually said.”

Unlike the past two debates this election season, the vice presidential debate ended with a handshake between the two candidates — and the two candidates and their wives, who joined them onstage, even stood around chatting for a bit.

In his closing statement, Vance accused the Biden-Harris administration of making it harder for everyday Americans to afford "a nice meal for your family," buy a house, live in a safe neighborhood and avoid the scourge of fentanyl.

"She's been the vice president for 3½ years," Vance said, referring to Harris. "Her policies have made these problems worse."

Vance said the American people will not be able to "achieve their full dreams" unless voters reject "the broken leadership in Washington" and vote for Trump.

During his closing statement, Walz started with a joke, thanking Americans who are watching for missing "Dancing With the Stars."

He highlighted prominent endorsements of the Harris ticket, including Dick Cheney and Taylor Swift. "They don't all agree on everything, but they are truly optimistic people. They believe in a positive future of this country, and one where our politics can be better than it is," Walz said.

Walz emphasized that Harris is "bringing us a politics of joy."

"She's bringing real solutions for the middle class, and she's centering you at the heart of that, all the while asking everyone: Join this movement, make your voices heard. Let's look for a new day where everybody gets that opportunity, and everybody gets a chance to thrive," he said.

Statement

“Look, [border] crossings are down compared to when Donald Trump left office.”

Statement

“[Trump] saved the very program from a Democratic administration that was collapsing and would have collapsed absent his leadership.”

During an exchange between Vance and Walz, Walz asked Vance whether Trump lost the 2020 election.

"Tim, I’m focused on the future," Vance said. "Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 Covid situation?"

"That is a damning. That is a damning non-answer," Walz said.

"It’s a damning non-answer for you to not talk about censorship," Vance said. "Obviously, Donald Trump and I think that there were problems in 2020 — we’ve talked about it. I’m happy to talk about it further. But you guys attack us for not believing in democracy. The most sacred right under the United States, democracy is the First Amendment. You, yourself, have said there’s no First Amendment right to misinformation. Kamala Harris wants to threaten government and big tech to silence people from speaking their minds."

Statement

"Iran, which launched this attack, has received over $100 billion in unfrozen assets thanks to the Kamala Harris administration."

In response to a question about whether he would challenge this year's election results, Vance dodged, instead defending Trump's actions on Jan. 6, 2021, saying, "Remember, [Trump] said that on January the 6th, the protesters ought to protest peacefully, and on January the 20th, what happened? Joe Biden became the president. Donald Trump left the White House."

Vance went on to blame tech companies for "censoring their fellow citizens" and later touted former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard's and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s endorsements of Trump's campaign.

Walz has mentioned unions multiple times during this debate, a departure from last month's debate between Harris and Trump. Harris did not mention unions once, according to a transcript of that debate, and Trump mentioned them twice briefly in one of his answers.

Vance was asked about Trump's saying child care was "not very expensive" compared to money the country would take in from his policies.

Asked whether Trump is committed to a child tax credit, Vance said Trump was talking about the country's taking in "a lot of money" by penalizing companies "shipping jobs overseas" and countries using "slave laborers."

The two candidates seem to find some common ground on needing to make family leave more accessible and affordable, though they differ on how exactly to do so.

Walz noted that Minnesota is home to some of the largest Fortune 500 companies that provide paid family medical leave.

"They think it’s good thing, but it also keeps their employees healthy," he said, adding that Minnesota has a law that "allows you to stay home a certain amount of time. ... What we know is that gets the child off to a better start."

Asked whether he supports a national paid leave program and if so, for how long, Vance said he thinks there's a "bipartisan solution."

"The cultural pressure on young families, and especially young women, I think makes it really hard for people to choose the family model they want. A lot of young women would like to go back to work immediately. Some would like to spend a little time home with the kids. Some would like to spend longer at home with the kids. We should have a family care model," he said.

Speaking about Obamacare, Vance claimed that “Donald Trump could’ve destroyed the program. Instead, he worked in a bipartisan way to ensure that Americans had access to affordable care.”

This is flatly false. Trump worked in a partisan way to try to destroy the Affordable Care Act. He simply failed to do it.

Given a chance to respond to Vance's remarks, Walz fact-checked the senator, telling viewers: "On day one, he [Trump] tried to sign an executive order to repeal the ACA. He signed on to a lawsuit to repeal the ACA, but lost at the Supreme Court, and he would have repealed the ACA had it not been for the courage of [the late GOP Sen.] John McCain to save that bill."

NBC News is watching the vice presidential debate with middle-of-the-road voters in Pittsburgh.

Clair Pro, 36, is an undecided voter. She believes women’s issues are a “low-hanging fruit” that politicians use to “rally us.”

She told NBC News that it is “very hard for me to look at two men who are talking about what we’re going to do in a doctor’s office.”

“This is a decision between a woman and her doctor, and there’s no one else involved,” Pro said.

More than an hour into the debate, “character and fitness” is now the most-discussed issue. Earlier in the debate, immigration led.

NBC News is keeping track of what the candidates are discussing in real time here.

Vance emphasized Harris' current role in the administration during an exchange about housing, saying, "She is the sitting vice president."

"If she wants to enact all of these policies to make housing more affordable, I invite her to use the office that the American people already gave her, not sit around and campaign and do nothing while Americans find the American dream of homeownership completely unaffordable," he said.

Republicans have frequently pointed to Harris' past 3½ years as vice president, arguing that she could have already achieved some of her policy priorities.

In response to a question about gun violence, Walz said his 17-year-old son witnessed a shooting at a community center while playing he was volleyball.

"Those things don’t leave you as a member of Congress," Walz said.

Vance said he didn't know that about Walz's son and added, "I'm sorry about that."

The shooting happened in January 2023 in St. Paul. Aides said Gus Walz was at the center with other kids when, according to Minnesota Public Radio, a recreation center employee shot a boy in the head and fled after they got into an argument.

Walz continued about gun violence: "Look, I’m a hunter. I own firearms. The vice president is. We understand that the Second Amendment is there, but our first responsibility to our kids is to figure this out."

The VP candidates took drastically different tones on housing, with Walz defending Harris' promise of providing $25,000 down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers, enacting a $10,000 tax credit and building 3 million new homes.

Vance, meanwhile, defended Trump's plan to seize federal lands to build new properties. He also accused undocumented immigrants of contributing to the affordable housing shortage and said the government should be "kicking" them out of their homes.

Again and again, Walz and Vance are giving each other the benefit of the doubt, while using every opportunity to attack their running mates. Walz isn’t bringing up Vance’s controversial rhetoric; he’s making it all about Trump, Trump, Trump. And Vance’s tone tends to shift dramatically when he’s talking to Walz; he often says he believes Walz wants to solve a particular problem and then argues that Harris doesn’t and rips into her.

This is the most nuanced and holistic debate on this issue I have heard, and I have covered almost every major school or mass shooting since and including Virginia Tech in 2007.

Walz seemed to agree, saying: “I think this a healthy conversation. I think there’s a capacity to find solutions on this that work.”

Discussing how to prevent school shootings, Vance said schools need to increase security — while acknowledging that the situation isn't ideal.

“I say, not loving the answer, because I don’t want my kids to go to school and a school that feels unsafe or where there are visible signs of security, but I unfortunately think that we have to increase security in our schools,” he said.

He added: “We have to make the doors lock better. We have to make the door stronger. We’ve got to make the windows stronger, and of course, we’ve got to increase school resource officers, because the idea that we can magically wave a wand and take guns out of the hands of bad guys, it just doesn’t fit with recent experience. So we’ve got to make our schools safer, and I think we’ve got to have some common-sense, bipartisan solutions for how to do that.”

Responding to a question about gun violence, Vance lamented the "terrible epidemic of gun violence" across the U.S., adding: "We have to do better."

He claimed that the "gross majority" of gun violence in the U.S. is committed with illegally obtained firearms and blamed the Biden-Harris administration's border policy for the influx of illegal weapons.

Vance outlined a second policy proposal: "Unfortunately, I think we have to increase security in our schools."

He said U.S. schools need to make doors "lock better," strengthen windows and add school resource officers.

"The idea that we can magically wave a wand and take guns out of the hands of bad guys, it just doesn’t fit with recent experience," Vance said near the end of his remarks.

Trump posted to Truth Social and said in an all-caps post that he would "not support a federal abortion ban," but would veto it.

He said that the matter is "up to the states to decide based on the will of their voters."

"I fully support the three exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother," the post continued.

During the presidential debate earlier this month, Trump refused to say whether he would veto a national abortion ban bill — despite Vance saying during an August interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" that Trump would. Asked in the post-debate spin room about Vance's comments, Trump said, "I didn’t discuss it with JD."

As of the first commercial break, the candidates are spending more time talking on topic than they were closer to the start of the debate.

See a live-updating graphic tracking what the candidates are talking about.

Statement

"I think the first thing that we do is we start with the criminal migrants. About a million of those people have had some form of crime in addition to crossing the border illegally.”

Walz mentioned maternal mortality rates in Texas after abortion bans. NBC News reported last month that the rate of maternal deaths in Texas increased 56% from 2019 to 2022, and particularly following the state’s 2021 ban on abortion care, compared with just 11% nationwide during the same time period.

Asked whether he supports abortion in the ninth month in Minnesota, Walz said, "That's not what the bill says," referring to a law he signed last year.

He added that Trump, who appointed Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade, "put this all into motion" and then pivoted to a series of examples of women and girls being affected by abortion access limitations or sexual violence.

"This is about health care," Walz said about abortion rights.

Last year, Walz signed a bill that enshrined the right to an abortion into law statewide. Proponents of the law said it would provide additional protections for abortion rights if the state court composition changed. Opponents criticized the few restrictions the bill put on abortion.

During an exchange on abortion, Walz invoked the name of Amber Nicole Thurman, a woman who traveled to North Carolina for abortion care and later died when she wasn't able to get care for a rare complication from the abortion pill.

"There's a very good chance that if Amber Thurman lived in Minnesota, she'd be alive today," Walz said, touting his work expanding access to reproductive care in his state.

Vance took a softer tone on abortion tonight, saying he knew a lot of young women who terminated unplanned pregnancies because felt like they didn't have other options.

"One of them is actually very dear to me, and I know she's watching tonight, and I love you," he said, adding that each person is different and each state might have a different attitude toward the topic.

"We've got to do so much better of a job at earning the American people's trust back on this issue where they frankly, just don't trust us," he went on. "And I think that's one of the things that Donald Trump and I are endeavoring to do."

The last time abortion came up on the debate stage — when Trump was asked about Vance's saying on NBC News' "Meet the Press" that Trump would veto a national abortion ban — Trump undermined Vance’s answer: “I didn’t discuss it with JD.”

Statement

"When people say that Donald Trump's economic plan doesn't make sense, I say look at the record, he delivered rising take-home pay for American workers. ... You've got to pretend that Donald Trump didn't deliver rising take-home pay, which of course he did."

Walz name-checked Project 2025, as the conservative blueprint for a second Trump administration is deeply unpopular with voters.

The latest national NBC News poll found Project 2025 is well-known, with around 3 in 4 voters voicing opinions about it. The poll also found it was highly unpopular, with a combined 57% viewing it negatively, including 51% who view it "very" negatively. Just 4 % have positive views of Project 2025.

Walz tried to sidestep a question clarifying whether he was in Hong Kong during the deadly Tiananmen Square protests in spring 1989 after Minnesota Public Radio reported that he had fibbed about the date of his visit.

He tried to dodge the question by talking about a program for young people, but the moderators would not let him get off topic.

"All I said on this was as I got there that summer and misspoke on this, so I will just that's what I've said," he responded. "So I was in Hong Kong and China during the democracy protests."

Statement

“Earlier today, Iran launched its largest attack yet on Israel, but that attack failed, thanks to joint U.S. and Israeli defensive action. President Biden has deployed more than 40,000 U.S. military personnel and assets to that region over the past year to try to prevent a regional war.”

Addressing Vance, moderator Margaret Brennan said he had previously called Trump unfit for the highest office and said he could be "America's Hitler."

Asked why Americans should trust him to give Trump the advice he needs to hear, Vance said "of course" he has disagreed with him.

"I’ve also been extremely open about the fact that I was wrong about Donald Trump. I was wrong, first of all, because I believed some of the media stories that turned out to be dishonest fabrications of his record," he said.

"But most importantly, Donald Trump delivered for the American people: rising wages, rising take-home pay, an economy that worked for normal Americans, a secure southern border, a lot of things, frankly, that I didn’t think you’d be able to deliver on. And yeah, when you screw up, when you misspeak, when you get something wrong and you change your mind, you ought to be honest with the American people," he added.

Vance said he has been consistent in saying that there were a "lot of things that we could have done better in the Trump administration the first round if Congress was doing its job."

Immigration accounts for more than six of the nearly 30 minutes tracked in the debate so far. NBC News is tracking what the candidates are talking about in real time here.

Statement

“[Harris] had the opportunity to enact all of these great policies, and what she’s actually done instead is drive the cost of food higher by 25%, drive the cost of housing higher by about 60%, open the American southern border and make middle-class life unaffordable."

Statement

"We're the cleanest economy in the entire world."

Vance’s commentary about the importance of the legislative branch rings a little hollow when you consider he has missed every Senate vote since he was added to Trump’s ticket.

In an exchange about the economy, Vance and Walz sparred over whether to "trust the experts" on the economy.

"Economists, don't be trusted. Science can't be trusted. National security folks can't be trusted," Walz said, mocking Trump and Vance, before adding: "Look, if you're going to be president, you don't have all the answers. Donald Trump believes he does. My pro tip of the day is this: If you need heart surgery, listen to the people at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, not Donald Trump. And the same thing goes with this."

Vance responded to Walz: "Governor, you say trust the experts. But those same experts for 40 years said that if we shipped our manufacturing base off to China, we get cheaper goods. They lied about that."

Vance continued about manufacturing being sent overseas: "This has to stop, and we're not going to stop it by listening to experts. We're going to stop it by listening to common-sense wisdom."

Asked about a Wharton School analysis that says Harris and Walz's proposals would increase the national deficit by $1.2 trillion, Walz uses a line that has become a staple for him and Harris on the campaign trail, saying both of them come from the middle class and promise to put it first.

Walz says their campaign platform includes promises of 3 million houses, lowering insulin prices, enhancing childhood tax credits and cutting taxes on the middle class.

It is very striking how much more fluent and comfortable Walz is discussing domestic policy than he is talking about foreign policy. His answer about the Iran-Israel conflict was halting, and he appeared visibly nervous. But when the debate turned to immigration and the economy, he appeared well prepared and in his element.

Walz said that he's a "union guy" and "not a guy who wanted to ship things overseas," when it comes to companies and jobs.

"We produce soybeans and corn. We need to have fair trading partners. That’s something that we believe in. I think the thing that most concerns me on this is Donald Trump was the guy who created the largest trade deficit in American history with China," Walz said.

Walz said that he was in agreement with Vance on this and saw jobs being shipped overseas in his communities in Minnesota.

"But we had people undercutting the right to collectively bargain. We had right to work. States made it more difficult. We had companies that were willing to ship it over," Walz continued. "And we saw people profit, folks that are venture capital, in some cases, putting money into companies that were overseas. We’re in agreement that we bring those home."

Walz is first to bring up Springfield, the small Ohio city that recently became ground zero for the Republican candidates' unsubstantiated claims about its large Haitian population. Walz called out Vance for perpetuating baseless rumors about immigrants that "vilified" a large community of mostly legal migrants there.

"I believe Sen. Vance wants to solve this, but by standing with Donald Trump and not working together to find a solution, it becomes a talking point, and when it becomes a talking point like this, we dehumanize and villainize other human beings," Walz said.

Vance shot back, saying he needed to draw attention to the bigger issue of an overwhelmed city that was not prepared to receive a large number of newcomers.

About 30 minutes in and candidates are spending a nearly equal amount of time off topic as they are on topic, according to NBC News' analysis of the debate. Track what topics the candidates are talking about in real time here.

Vance and Walz's microphones were cut off after the Ohio senator interrupted co-moderator Margaret Brennan to continue speaking about immigration policy — an answer he insisted on giving after he said she had unfairly fact-checked him.

"Margaret, the rules were that you guys weren't going to fact-check," Vance said before he launched into a discussion of immigration. But midway through those remarks, the audio dropped out.

“Gentlemen, the audience can’t hear you because your mics are cut," Brennan said. "We have so much we want to get to. Thank you for explaining the legal process.”

A notable change in Vance’s language tonight as he talks about immigration: On the trail, he often calls undocumented migrants “illegal aliens.” As someone who listens to Vance almost every day, hearing him say “illegal migrants” instead caught my attention.

Speaking about the bipartisan border bill that died in the Senate this year, Walz told viewers, "I don't talk about my faith a lot, but Matthew 25:40 talks about 'To the least amongst us, you do unto me.'"

"I think that's true of most Americans. They simply want order to it. This bill does it. It's funded. It's supported by the people who do it, and it lets us keep our dignity about how we treat other people," he added.

It's rare for Walz or the three other candidates to bring up their faith on the trail.

Garrett Haake noted: Walz fluent citation from the gospel of Matthew was a rare moment of any of these four candidates sharing any information about their faiths — a departure from past campaigns where candidates made their religion much more central to their personal and political identity.

When talking about the southern border, Vance said that "the gross majority of what we need to do at the southern border is just empowering law enforcement to do their job."

Vance was asked about whether Congress would need to support changes to border policy because Congress controls monetary policy.

He added that "of course additional resources would help," but said that most of the issue came down to the president and vice president "empowering" law enforcement.

Statement

“The Inflation Reduction Act has created jobs all across the country … 200,000 jobs across the country.”

NBC News is watching the Vice Presidential debate with middle-of-the-road voters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

NBC News’ Kate Snow asked a group of six middle-of-the-road voters whether they feel pressure being swing state voters. All six raised their hands.

"At the end of the day the vote is going to come through Pennsylvania,” said Brian Geisler, who is undecided but leaning toward voting for Trump.

“Yard signs are everywhere, and they change. In certain neighborhoods there is a predominance of Harris signs; in other neighborhoods there are no Harris signs and it is all Trump,” said Meryl Ainsman, who is voting for Harris.

The group observed that the farther you get from Pittsburgh, the more Trump signs you see.

Trump slams CBS News moderators Margaret Brennan and Norah O'Donnell on his Truth Social account.

"Both young ladies have been extremely biased Anchors!" Trump wrote of the newswoman, who are both over 40.

During an exchange about climate change, Walz took a shot at Trump's meeting with oil executives.

"To call it a hoax and to take the oil company executives to Mar-a-Lago [and] say, 'Give me money for my campaign, and I'll let you do whatever you want,' we can be smarter about that, and an all-above energy policy is exactly what she's doing, creating those jobs right here," Walz said.

Walz appeared to be referring to oil CEOs who attended a Trump fundraising dinner at Mar-a-Lago. A Washington Post report said that during the dinner, Trump said he would reverse many of Biden's environmental rules and suggested the executives raise $1 billion for his campaign.

Trump’s push to kill bipartisan border bill negotiated by Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., has become the go-to response for Democrats across the country when they’re quizzed about the chaos on the southern border.

Walz just used it at the debate, saying the bill was good but “Donald Trump said no, told [Republicans] to vote against it, because it gives him a campaign issue. What would Donald Trump talk about if we actually did some of these things?”

The latest national NBC News poll finds Trump has an advantage over Harris on the issue of border security.

Voters by a 21-point margin say Trump would do a better job of securing the border and controlling immigration, with 54% saying Trump would better handle the issue, while 33% say Harris.

Walz has twice used specific stats about Ohio, Vance’s state, in his answers defending the Biden-Harris record. He mentioned electric vehicle manufacturing jobs in Jeffersonville while talking about climate change, and he said fentanyl deaths are down in Ohio after Vance went on the attack over the border.

NBC News is watching the vice presidential debate with middle-of-the-road voters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Brandon Davis, 31, is an undecided voter leaning toward voting for the Harris-Walz ticket. He is frustrated by what he feels is a lack of middle ground.

"Everything is radicalized. Everything is extreme," he said. "Being young and African American, it seems like a lot of people are coming to the topic of politics late, and they’re missing nuance.”

Trump and Vance have both gone to great lengths to avoid playing out how a mass deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants would actually work. They regularly say, as Vance just did, that you start with those who have broken other laws. But that doesn’t get them anywhere close to the millions of deportations Trump promises or address the resulting family separations they would necessitate.

Walz tried to put some space between Vance and Trump on climate change, linking its effects to the catastrophic Hurricane Helene.

He launched into a list of "investments" made by the Biden-Harris administration through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, like electric vehicles and solar technology.

He said that at one point, Vance agreed that climate change was a problem.

"Donald Trump called it a hoax and then joked that these things would make more beachfront property to be able to invest in what we've seen out of the Harris administration," he said of climate change. "Now [with] the Biden-Harris administration ... we've seen this investment. We've seen massive investments."

Asked whether he agrees with Trump's comments that climate change is a hoax, Vance falsely suggested that Harris doesn't believe in it herself.

"If the Democrats, in particular Kamala Harris and her leadership, if they really believe that climate change is serious, what they would be doing is more manufacturing and more energy production in the United States of America. And that’s not what they’re doing," Vance said.

He continued: "So clearly, Kamala Harris herself doesn’t believe her own rhetoric on this. If she did, she would actually agree with Donald Trump’s energy policies."

Harris has consistently been clear about her position — that climate change is real and the U.S. must take action to combat it.

On the campaign trail, Vance often uses the analogy of eating a large sandwich when asked about how a future Trump administration would implement the mass deportations that Trump has promised: one bite at a time. His answer on the debate stage is about as in-depth as his answers in battleground states.

Vance called for a "robust" federal response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene across the Southeast, describing the death and destruction "an unbelievable, unspeakable human tragedy."

He was responding to a question about how a second Trump administration would combat climate change. “Let’s say it’s true for the sake of argument, so we don’t argue about weird science; let’s say it’s true," he said of climate change, before he appeared to cast doubt on whether the problem is caused by carbon emissions.

Trump has repeatedly called climate change a hoax.

NBC News is watching the vice presidential debate with middle-of-the-road voters in Pittsburgh.

Rona Kaufman, 49, is a Jewish American voter who was glued to the news today as Iran launched a missile attack on Israel.

She said she is “really thankful” that the U.S. supported Israel during today’s attack.

Kaufman is currently undecided but leaning toward voting for Trump. She told NBC News, “I think every day, right now is so utterly critical and watching how this continues to unfold.”

Meryl Ainsman, 70, is also a Jewish American but plans to vote for Harris. She says the news today “verified what I’ve already felt, that the Biden-Harris administration has been very pro-Israel.”

“Today was really an existential threat for the state of Israel, once again, and the United States and the Biden administration, along with Vice President Harris, really stepped up,” Ainsman said.

While Trump repeatedly evokes Biden on the stump, Vance is on message tonight, trying to frame her as the central character in the White House.

He blamed the "Kamala Harris administration" for unfreezing Iranian assets; argued that Iran and Hamas attacked Israel "during the administration of Kamala Harris;" and criticized "Kamala Harris's policies" related to energy and manufacturing all in the debates first few questions. Missing in all of that, any reference to President Joe Biden.

Meanwhile, Walz made sure to give Biden some credit. During an answer on Hurricane Helene, the Democrat mentioned "the Harris administration," before correcting himself to the "Biden-Harris administration."

Vance deflected from Walz's quip about Trump's social media posts, saying, "Gov. Walz can criticize Donald Trump's tweets, but effective, smart diplomacy and peace through strength is how you bring stability back to a very broken world."

Then, he pivoted back to Trump's record as president, telling viewers: "Ask yourself at home, when, when was the last time — I'm 40 years old — when was the last time that an American president didn't have a major conflict break out? The only answer is during the four years that Donald Trump was president."

Earlier, Walz blasted Trump, saying: "Iran is closer to a nuclear weapon than they were before because of Donald Trump's fickle leadership. And when Iran shot down an American aircraft in international airspace, Donald Trump tweeted because that's the standard diplomacy of Donald Trump."

You may hear Vance mispronounce Walz’s last name (pronounced like “Waltz” instead of “Walls”). But one name that he doesn’t mispronounce? Kamala Harris. Despite many Republicans, even Trump himself, mispronouncing the vice president’s name, Vance rarely — if ever — does. His wife, Usha, and her family are Indian — a heritage that Harris herself shares.

Asked about Trump's pledge to carry out the largest mass deportations in history, Vance dodged the root of the question, which was about how a future Trump administration would execute such a plan.

"Before we talk about deportations, we have to stop the bleeding," Vance said before blasting Harris because she "said that she wanted to undo all of Donald Trump's border policies."

Then the Ohio senator blamed Harris for the fentanyl crisis and illicit drugs coming through the border.

"I'd ask my fellow Americans to remember, when [Harris] came into office, she said she was going to do this. Real leadership would be saying, 'You know what? I screwed up. We're going to go back to Donald Trump's border policies.' I wish that she would do that. It would be good for all of us," he finished, without addressing how Trump would execute his plan to deport millions.

In response to the question about whether he would support or oppose a pre-emptive strike by Israel on Iran, Vance began by saying he wanted to introduce himself, though he eventually said it's up to Israel.

"Donald Trump actually delivered stability in the world, and he did it by establishing effective deterrence. People were afraid of stepping out of line," said Vance, who falsely claimed that Iran received more than $100 billion in unfrozen assets because of the Biden administration.

"What do they use that money for? They use it to buy weapons that they’re now launching against our allies and, God forbid, potentially launching against the United States, as well. Donald Trump recognized that for people to fear the United States, you needed peace through strength," he said.

Regarding the question of a pre-emptive strike on Iran by Israel, Vance said, "It is up to Israel, what they think they need to do to keep their country safe, and we should support our allies, wherever they are when they’re fighting the bad guys. I think that’s the right approach to take with the Israel question."

Iran launched a missile attack on Israel earlier today.

Garrett Haake says: This is the advantage Vance gets from taking so many reporters' questions. He has reps on how to answer, or parry, basically any question — and not just from debate prep.

Adds Alex Seitz-Wald: Reminder that Walz had never used a teleprompter before being picked for VP. He's not used to such high-stakes speaking moments.

Asked about whether he would support or oppose a pre-emptive strike by Israel on Iran, Walz emphasized the importance of steady leadership.

Walz pointed to former Trump administration staffers who have since turned into critics of Trump. He said Harris demonstrates "steady leadership" and understands that "allies matter."

Vance began his time allotted to answer the question talking about his upbringing. Later, Vance said Trump established "effective deterrence." On a pre-emptive strike, Vance said that it is up to what Israel desires.

Hitting back, Walz pointed to Trump's record on Iran, including exiting the Iran nuclear deal.

Walz uses his first question, about Iran and Israel, to hit at Trump’s age: “A nearly 80-year-old Donald Trump talking about crowd sizes is not what we need in this moment.”

Walz has continually painted Trump to voters as a "nearly 80-year-old" on the campaign trail.

Vance and Walz shook hands to kick off the debate, following in the footsteps of the tops of their tickets at the Sept. 10 debate.

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, the raunchy puppet voiced by Robert Smigel, just did a spin through the VP debate spin room.

He scored an interview with Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and made several quips about Walz’s age. Triumph also asked Kelly, as a former astronaut, whether he could shed light on Vance’s “home planet.”

Trump on his own accord made no mention of Vance’s debate during either of his two campaign events today in Wisconsin. At his first event in Waunakee, Trump made no reference to Vance or the debate at all.

At his second stop in Milwaukee, Trump didn’t bring Vance up on his own. Over an hour into the event, when he was asked about tonight’s debate, Trump said his advice for Vance was, “Have fun.”

Trump also spoke for two hours at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Sunday and made no mention of Vance.

As Walz readies to take the stage, here's a look at how he got to this moment in his political career.

The debate will be underway shortly.

As Vance readies to take the stage, here's a look at how he got to this moment in his political career.

Ahead of the debate, Trump posted a video to his Truth Social account saying he would be posting updates throughout the debate. He said he won't say anything bad about Walz before the debate because he's going to "keep it really straight." Seeming to lower expectations for Vance, he also said Walz is "probably very underrated."

"We're gonna say good and bad about both. If JD makes a mistake, we're gonna say bad. And if Walz says something great, we'll say that was pretty good," Trump said.

The one thing I'm watching for tonight is whether Vance and Walz will shake hands.

Biden and Trump did not shake hands during the fated June debate that unraveled Biden's re-election bid.

As the new Democratic nominee, Harris broke stride with her predecessor during the Sept. 10 debate, making a beeline across the stage and initiating a handshake with Trump, whom she had never met before.

Walz will undoubtedly tout his record in Minnesota tonight, but one thing that I’ll be watching for is how much he refers to Wisconsin when doing so. Right after his selection, Democrats there told me repeatedly that as a neighbor to the battleground state, Walz appeals to Wisconsin voters because of his Midwestern vibes — he feels familiar even to folks who don’t know him.

But Wisconsin Republicans at the time told me his familiarity as the liberal governor next door is a big risk— a message reinforced by a homemade sign I recently saw that said, "Don’t make Wisconsin Minnesota."

Tonight will be a test of both theories for me.

"These guys are just weird."

Those five words, uttered on "Morning Joe" in late July, helped catapult Walz to the No. 2 spot on the Democratic presidential ticket. Walz has continued to mock Vance as "weird" on the campaign trail, and the word has been central to Democratic messaging.

I'm curious whether Walz will use the word "weird" on the debate stage tonight — or whether he will steer away from rhetoric that, however popular with the party's base, could be construed as inappropriate.

NBC News is watching the vice presidential debate with middle-of-the-road voters in Pittsburgh.

Brian Geisler and Jon Graham have been close friends since elementary school.

Geisler, 43, is most likely reluctantly voting for Trump. He does not think the Biden administration has been great on the economy.

“I just don’t think he’s done a good job,” Geisler said. “So I’ve always been sort of socially liberal and fiscally conservative. I thought that under Trump we were actually in a very good place.”

NBC News looks back at some of the most memorable moments from past vice presidential debates. From the first debate in 1976 between Sens. Walter Mondale and Bob Dole to the most watched vice presidential debate ever, between Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware.

What I’m watching for is something we probably won’t know in real time tonight: whether Vance can turn his image around.

In our latest NBC News poll, Vance’s positive rating is just 32%, with 45% viewing him negatively. That’s one of the highest net-negative ratings a VP candidate has amassed in the modern campaign era.

By contrast, Walz is seen positively by 40% and negatively by 33%.

Whether Vance’s unpopularity endures, or even worsens, could have implications for November — and also for a prospective Vance presidential campaign in 2028.

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., predicted tonight that Vance will focus on the issues and that Walz will try to “muck up the debate” with personal attacks about comments Vance has made in the past.

“If you want to talk about what JD Vance said in an interview before he was a United States senator, that’s fine. But what it proves is you don’t care about the issues facing the American people,” Donalds told NBC News' Tom Llamas.

I’m watching for how quickly memes come out of this debate — Gen Z seems to be obsessed with Walz, and there have been not-as-friendly memes about Vance. Whether Gen Z starts pumping out memes could be a quick indication about how — or whether — they're viewing the debate.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said on X that state “election offices were spared from substantial, long term damage” from Hurricane Helene.

"Our staff will be working hand in hand with the counties that need the most support to ensure election operations remain on schedule," he said.

Early voting in Georgia is set to start on Oct. 15.

More than 150 people have died across Southeastern states from Hurricane Helene.

A bipartisan group of senators hailing from states affected by Hurricane Helene is calling for Congress to act quickly to pass disaster relief, perhaps returning early from its recess, which is supposed to last until after the Nov. 5 election.

All senators from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia signed a letter today addressed to Senate leadership and top appropriators (senators charged with writing spending bills) with the request.

"Although the true level of devastation is still unfolding, it is clear that Congress must act to meet the unmet needs in our states and address the scope and scale of destruction experienced by our constituents," they wrote.

CBS News' "60 Minutes" said in a statement on X that Trump had agreed to sit for an interview as part of its traditional prime-time election special airing Monday but that he has since pulled out.

The show said Harris will speak with correspondent Bill Whitaker, adding, "After initially accepting 60 Minutes’ request for an interview with Scott Pelley, former President Trump’s campaign has decided not to participate."

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung wrote on X that it was "fake news."

In response to Iran's missile attack on Israel today, Trump compared the conflict to "two kids fighting in the schoolyard."

"Sometimes you have to just sort of let it go a little bit, and we’ll see what happens," he said in Milwaukee when asked about the attack.

Trump said he thinks that had he been re-elected in 2020, all countries in the Middle East, including Iran, would have joined the Abraham Accords, which his administration brokered. The agreement normalized relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Bahrain.

Trump is speaking less energetically than usual at a press conference in Milwaukee, where he has delivered sometimes hard-to-follow comments about topics such as the Covid pandemic and climate change.

"Global warming wasn't working because the planet's actually gotten a little bit cooler recently. But climate change covers everything. It can rain, it can be dry, it can be hot, it can be cold. Climate change. Everything is — look, and I'm — I believe I really am an environmentalist. I've gotten environmental awards. But I want clean, beautiful air and clean, beautiful water. That's all. Crystal clean water," Trump said at one point during the event.

Elsewhere in the unscripted remarks, Trump went into a digression about the movie character Rambo, famously played by Sylvester Stallone.

In recent months, Trump and Biden have both faced questions about their cognitive fitness. Trump, 78, trails Harris, 59, on the question of which candidate has the necessary mental and physical health to be president, according to a national NBC News poll of registered voters conducted Sept. 13-17.

Trump said at a campaign event in Milwaukee today that he has heard from a number of people lobbying him on school choice, including Rupert Murdoch, whose media empire includes Fox News.

"I got lots of calls. I even got a call from Rupert Murdoch, who I have a lot of respect for. And he said, 'School choice, school choice. You have to go with school choice.' That was just today. I said I didn't know he was that into school choice. But he feels very strongly about it," Trump said.

Trump said he agreed. "You have to do the school choice thing," adding that "our opponents are using government schools to indoctrinate children, pushing radical transgender ideology on children, changing the child's gender.”

"Not even believable," Trump said. "All of that's changing."

Biden today signed into law a bill that boosts Secret Service protection for major presidential candidates, the White House announced.

The bill sailed through Congress with unanimous support shortly after the second attempt on Trump's life.

The new law will give Trump and Harris the same level of protection as Biden. Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said last month that the agency needs a "paradigm shift" in its approach to protecting presidents after the two attempts on Trump's life this year. Rowe also said Trump was already receiving the highest levels of protection available and everything Biden was already receiving "with respect to Secret Service."

Trump said in remarks in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that the mayor of Springfield, Ohio "doesn't want to say anything" negative about the immigrants in the community because "he wants to be politically correct."

"Virtually none of them speak English, so he's looking for interpreters when he should be looking for people to take them home because this country can't sustain what's happening to it," Trump said. "This country can't sustain hundreds of thousands of people coming in a month."

A dockworkers' strike threatens to harm shipping, manufacturing, pre-holiday retail inventories — and Harris’ bid for the presidency.

The International Longshoreman’s Association went on strike at 14 ports along the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico at midnight, just hours before Walz squares off in a New York debate with Vance.

The dockworkers are demanding a pay raise and restrictions on the use of automation at ports, which they say could lead to job losses. They have been at an impasse with the United States Maritime Alliance, which represents shipping and port operations companies.

Read the full story here.

Harris’ campaign is launching a digital ad today slamming Vance as “extremist” and a “danger to our democracy.”

The spot argues Vance “could be a heartbeat away” from the presidency if Trump wins in November, the first time the Democratic ticket has gone after Trump’s age in paid media since Harris became the Democratic nominee, according to a Harris official.

The 50-second ad, which will target voters in battleground states, concludes with video of Trump appearing to slur his words at an event and then a Fox News host saying, “The former president, he’s been off his game.” It is the first time the Harris campaign has used such clips in any of its ads, the official said.

Read the full story here.

Manufacturing workers have been one of the most aggressively courted constituencies in modern politics — Trump was able to turn many reliable Democrats into voters for him. And Vance has long echoed Trump's tone and positions that he says support the working class (although Trump has also been criticized for making anti-labor comments, including praising Elon Musk for firing striking workers).

Biden was able to cut into Trump's margins, partly by touting his manufacturing bona fides.

Walz brings the Harris ticket a bit more credibility. Not just because he grew up in the Midwest, but also because his state is home to large iron ore mining operations — the backbone of the U.S. manufacturing industry. Walz has tried to walk the fine line when it comes to mining, careful not to upset environmentalists while also appearing not to be too big a champion for the industry.

But it's an arena where he can flex his credentials in trying to counter Vance. Will Walz lean into his manufacturing industry ties? Or try to find another way to counter Vance?

Remember when Walz became Harris’s running mate and seemed to electrify the race with his regular guy-high school football coach-plainspoken truth-teller persona?

He seemed like one of the Harris campaign’s best assets.

What happened to that guy? Where has he been?

At the debate tonight, look to see whether Walz reminds voters why he seemed so appealing in the summer and whether he leaves them wanting more.

Special counsel Jack Smith's office denied claims from Trump's attorneys that its legal brief pushing back against Trump's presidential immunity arguments is politically motivated.

The Trump filing "includes his standard and unsupported refrain that the Government’s position is motivated by improper political considerations. That allegation is false—just as it was false when the Court denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss the case on grounds of selective and vindictive prosecution," Smith's office said in court papers.

"The Special Counsel’s mandate is to uphold the law. It has no role or interest in partisan politics and has faithfully executed its prosecutorial duties in this case," the filing said.

It also took issue with Trump's request for more redactions before the sealed filing is made public and painted his position as hypocritical, calling it "an about-face from his previous objection 'to any of the proceedings in this case being conducted under seal.'"

Let’s dispatch with the obvious: It’s hard for a VP debate to be that influential on this or any presidential campaign. Why am I so sure of this? Because of what happened in 1988. The debate between the GOP VP nominee, Dan Quayle, and the Dem nominee, Lloyd Bentsen, was perhaps one of the biggest one-sided affairs many of us have ever witnessed in a nationally televised debate. One could argue that Bentsen’s retort to Quayle, “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy” is a more famous debate one-liner than any ever uttered by an actual presidential campaign.   

And yet, Bentsen’s advantage over Quayle in that debate was dramatic and drastic and was so influential on swing voters that the GOP ticket won over 400 electoral votes. The point was, the voters didn’t appear to vote on who they thought was the best No. 2 running for national office; they voted based on their views of the top of the ticket. 

The first (and really only) rule for participating in a vice presidential debate is to do no harm. That’s why candidates prepare lines meant to knock rivals off guard and force harmful mistakes — and why they work hard with their handlers to anticipate and defuse whatever bombs might be lobbed in their direction.

Walz and Vance both have their pressure points.

Walz has the longer debate record, but Minnesota is something of a backwater on the national political scene. Vance is the less experienced debater, but for months, his team has been putting him in front of tough TV news interviewers to work out any bugs.

The tenor and tensions tonight could shift sharply if the conversation turns to racism. Vance was accused of indulging in racist conspiracy theories during a Senate debate two years ago, and he responded angrily by invoking his biracial family.

Vance is expected to pop into the spin room after the debate, a source familiar with the planning told NBC News.

Walz, who has found himself under fire for mischaracterizing events in his life several times since he joined the Harris campaign, once again faces questions about his relationship — and the time he spent — in China. 

In 2014, Walz, then a member of the House, said at a hearing focused on the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square uprising that he was in nearby Hong Kong as the deadly protests unfolded in Beijing.

"As a young man, I was just going to teach high school in Foshan in Guangdong and was in Hong Kong in May of ’89,” he said at the hearing. “And as the events were unfolding, several of us went in. And I still remember the train station in Hong Kong.” But an article in the Record newspaper of Chadron, Nebraska, in August 1989 reported that Walz, then a recent college graduate, "will leave Sunday en route to China." Minnesota Public Radio was first to report on the discrepancy.

Harris said this afternoon that she will always ensure Israel can defend itself and that her "commitment to the security of Israel is unwavering."

She called Iran's attack on Israel "reckless and brazen" and condemned it "unequivocally," saying Iran remains a destabilizing, dangerous force in the Middle East.

Harris said earlier in the day that she had monitored the developments from the White House Situation Room with Biden and their national security team.

Trump sees his running mate as an extension of his own messaging — as most nominees do — and he made it clear to me in a phone interview today that he expects to see Vance on the attack against Harris on his two favorite issues: immigration and inflation.

I’m watching to see whether Vance can do what Trump hasn’t been able to so far: send Harris’ numbers on the handling of those two issues back down, after she has seen steady polling improvement. Trump’s attacks by now can feel rote to voters who’ve heard him hit the same marks time and again. Can Vance — far less well-known — provide a new frame for those seminal issues? 

Congressional Republicans called for a strong U.S. response after Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., described the attack in a statement as “the breaking point” and urged the Biden administration to “coordinate an overwhelming response with Israel,” beginning with Iran’s oil refineries.

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement, “We should not take any option off the table, and Iran must be made to pay for this,” adding, “The time for appeasement of the Ayatollah and his regime of terror is over.”

Trump, speaking at a campaign event in Waunakee, Wisconsin, referred to the Iranian attack on Israel and said that "the world right now is spiraling out of control."

Trump used apocalyptic language referring to the missile attack. "I've been talking about World War III for a long time, and I don’t want to make predictions because they always come true, but they are very close to global catastrophe," he said.

He later declared the attack would not have happened if he were president and said it occurred because other nations “don’t respect our country anymore.”

That line of attack on Biden and Harris has been a fixture in Trump's rallies, which portray the pair as weak on the international stage and suggest that weakness has led to more conflict around the world.

Attorneys for Trump responded to special counsel Jack Smith's brief on presidential immunity in the 2020 election interference case and again accused him of trying to meddle in the 2024 election.

Smith filed the motion last week under seal and asked the judge to release a redacted version to omit grand jury information and witnesses' names.

In their response requesting further redactions, Trump's lawyers argued that Smith's office is being too cavalier with information that it previously argued should remain under wraps for fear that witnesses could be harassed.

Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., announced he will retire after the election but will still be running this year in an interview in Arizona.

“I think 22 years [in office] is pretty good. It’s a retirement age, not that I’m abandoning what I do now, but that it’s time for someone else, and it’s time for somebody younger,” Grijalva, who is 76, told KOLD-TV of Tucson.

Grijalva was the second congressional Democrat to call on Biden to drop out of the race. He opened up in the interview about the criticism he faced from his own party. He said that the reaction was “bad” and that he was told he was “breaking up the party.”

In April, Grijalva said in a statement that he had been diagnosed with cancer and begun treatment.

The Biden administration’s monthslong effort to avert a full-blown war between Israel and Iran is being put to the most difficult test yet, as Tehran today launched a barrage of ballistic missiles at Israel.

The administration has worked around the clock for the past year trying to avoid a direct clash between its ally Israel and Iran. But now, administration officials face a potential worst-case scenario, as Iran’s attack will inevitably trigger a retaliation by the Israeli military. Such a chain reaction could possibly pull in the U.S. as it helps to defend Israel and other countries in the region.

Read the full story here.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., have been briefed on Iran’s missile attack against Israel, their spokespeople said.

U.S. lawmakers, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., reacted to Iran’s missile attack on Israel by speculating on potential coordinated Israel-U.S. responses. NBC News’ Kristin Welker reports on how the attack could affect the 2024 presidential election. 

Some Pennsylvania voters have received mail-in ballots with the return envelope already sealed due to humidity in the state, the Pennsylvania Department of State wrote in a post on X.

The department is encouraging voters to contact their county election offices for next steps if their ballots have been affected.

The president and vice president are monitoring the Iranian attack on Israel from the situation room in the White House, the administration said.

Biden directed the U.S. military to aid Israel’s defense against Iranian attacks and shoot down missiles that are targeting Israel, the White House said, and Biden and Harris are receiving regular updates from their national security team.

Trump, meanwhile, posted a statement on social media that read in part, in all-capital letters, "None of this happened while I was president!!" He filed an all-caps post shortly after calling the war "totally preventable."

As part of her travel to states affected by Hurricane Helene, Harris will visit Georgia tomorrow and North Carolina in the coming days, a White House official said.

Harris’ visit to Georgia comes as Biden heads to North Carolina and South Carolina tomorrow to survey damage caused by the storm.

Former President Jimmy Carter is celebrating his 100th birthday and it’s the first time an American president has lived a full century. A sign on the north lawn of the White House is marking the special occasion and President Joe Biden has sent Carter a special birthday message.

Unlike the debate between Trump and Harris, where Vance took to the spin room to buoy his running mate's message, the senator's own message will be amplified by Senate allies like Katie Britt of Alabama and Tom Cotton of Arkansas after tonight's face-off with Tim Walz.

Vance's spin room delegation will also include vocal Trump allies from the House of Representatives — Elise Stefanik, of New York, and Byron Donalds, of Florida — as well as Trump's son Donald Trump, Jr., who lobbied his father for Vance to join the GOP ticket.

Iran has launched ballistic missiles at Israel, causing sirens to sound all over the country, the Israel Defense Forces said today.

Orange fire illuminated the sky over Israel as NBC News crews in both Tel Aviv and across the border in Tyre, Lebanon, viewed the apparent missiles being fired. Smaller streaks of light were also viewed, appearing to come from Israel’s aerial defense system as the country tried to ward off the attack.

Booms were also heard in video captured by NBC News, but it’s unclear whether the sound erupted from clashing missiles in the air or from Iranian missiles landing in Israel.

U.S. officials warned earlier in the day that Iran was preparing a ballistic missile strike targeting Israel, a senior White House official and a Defense Department official told NBC News today.

Read the full story here.

President Joe Biden again called for a deal to be reached between the striking longshoremen at ports along the East Coast and Gulf Coast and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) in a statement, saying he urged the group, which represents freight companies and ports, to “present a fair offer” to the dockworkers “that ensures they are paid appropriately in line with their invaluable contributions.”

In the statement, the president noted that dockworkers “will play an essential role” in recovery efforts from Hurricane Helene and therefore the need to negotiate a fair contract is urgent.

“As our nation climbs out of the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, dockworkers will play an essential role in getting communities the resources they need,” Biden said. “Now is not the time for ocean carriers to refuse to negotiate a fair wage for these essential workers while raking in record profits. My Administration will be monitoring for any price gouging activity that benefits foreign ocean carriers, including those on the USMX board.”

“It is time for USMX to negotiate a fair contract with the longshoremen that reflects the substantial contribution they’ve been making to our economic comeback,” he added.

Election officials in North Carolina said today they're still surveying the scope of the damage caused by Hurricane Helene and preparing for various contingencies to ensure as smooth an election as possible.

"We do not have all the answers right now, but we are diligently working to figure them out," Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections, said in a briefing for reporters.

Brinson Bell said a dozen county election offices in the hard-hit western part of the state are still closed, and "we are focused now getting those offices back up and running so that absentee ballot requests can be processed and voter registrations can be entered into the system."

Brinson Bell said they’ve been coordinating with state and federal officials, as well as state emergency management, to identify areas that might need extra help. “I think we all recognize that as roads come back open, they’re going to be able to determine which roads are truly compromised and cannot be repaired immediately," she said. "Therefore, there may be other actions we need to take for voters in that area or those affected areas that are more isolated or shut off from services.”

Biden is scheduled to travel to North Carolina and South Carolina tomorrow, the White House said. 

The president will take an aerial tour of areas affected by Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina, receive operational briefings and meet with first responders and local officials.

Biden will also meet with first responders and state and local officials in South Carolina before he goes to North Carolina.